Tag Archives: Fowler

The Yanks scored 4 in the bottom of the eighth for a 9-6 win over Boston Wednesday night. The win, their 17th in their last 18 games, put the Yanks in first place by themselves with a 26-10 record, one game better than Boston.

Brett Gardner, who came into the game hitting just .198, had two doubles and a triple, and was robbed of another double. Gardner doubled in the bottom of the first and was singled home by Aaron Judge.

Masahiro Tanaka struggled. He gave up a 2-run HR in the second to Moreland.

The Yanks scored three in the bottom of the third to go up 4-2. Gardner led off with his second double of the game, and Judge walked. Didi grounded out, moving the runners up, and Stanton doubled home two runs. Sanchez singled Stanton to third and Hicks drove in Stanton with a SF.

In the top of the fourth, Didi turned a nifty DP to end the inning.

Tanaka gave up another HR in the fifth (Benintendi), as Boston cut the Yanks’ lead to 4-3. Judge made a diving catch to end the inning.

Judge got an infield single and advanced on a throwing error to lead off the bottom of the fifth. Didi walked and Stanton was HBP to load the bases with one out. Sanchez got a SF to put the Yanks up 5-3.

Tanaka gave up a leadoff double in the sixth, got a groundout that advanced the runner, and Chad Green came in. Green gave up a SF then got a K but Boston had cut the lead to 5-4.

In the top of the seventh, Green gave up a 2-run HR to Hanley Ramirez and Boston was up 6-5.

In the top of the eighth, Chasen Shreve replaced Green and wasn’t good. Walk, double. He got a K, but then Jonathan Holder came in and got a strikeout, intentional walk and groundout to get out of the inning. Boston had second and third, no one out and couldn’t score. It cost them the game.

To the bottom of the eighth, and the Yanks’ 4-run comeback. Walker led off with a double, and Andujar moved him to third with a groundout. Torres walked and Gardner tripled home two runs to give the Yanks the lead. Judge then homered (9) to make it 9-6, the final score.

Greg Bird goes to Tampa (High A) Thursday to start playing in some minor league games. He could be back in a few weeks.

Tommy Kahnle is expected back at the end of May.

Dustin Fowler, who the Yanks brought up last year only to see him get injured before he could get his first MLB at bat, got that AB with the A’s last night, lining out. Good for him after that gruesome injury last summer.

Brian Cashman got the Yanks their ace in Sonny Gray. It went almost down to the wire, but the Yanks got Gray for three prospects.

So let’s reassess what Cashman has done in the past few weeks. He got rid of the struggling Tyler Clippard and a bunch of prospects (but not the top tier ones) for the following: brought back David Robertson. Got Tommy Kahnle. Got Todd Frazier for 3b (if only for two months, rental), enabling Chase Headley to move to 1B to solve the season long 1B problem. Got Jaime Garcia (if only for a 2 month rental) to fill the Pineda spot that was being filled by Mitchell/Cessa and rookie Caleb Smith. Upgrades all around.

Now he got an ace pitcher to top it off. I’d say Cashman definitely earned his money.

Gray is under team control through 2019. He isn’t a two-month rental like Garcia is. He’s 27, in his prime.

Two years ago, Gray was an All-Star who finished third in CYA voting.

He had a rough 2016, missing 1/3 of the year with an injury, but even with that, is 44-36 in his career with an ERA of 3.42, ERA+ 114 (100 is average, so 14% above). His 162 G. average is 13-11, 3.42. With that ERA his record should be better, and with this offense and this bullpen, I expect that to happen.

This year, he has been 6-5, 3.43. Even though he was just 5-11, 5.69 last season, the ERAs for the other seasons were all 3.08 or lower. Great.

He is an ace, and in picking him up, the Yanks gave up three prospects, and two of them are currently on the DL. Who knows how they recover from those injuries?

James Kaprielian. RHP. 23. Considered their #1 pitching prospect, he has been surpassed. He has missed all of the 2017 season due to Tommy John surgery. He missed almost all of 2016. Not counting the Arizona Fall League, he has pitched in only seven minor league games. He basically has hardly pitched in the last two seasons.

Dustin Fowler. OF Lefty hitter. 22. The poor kid who suffered a major injury in his first MLB inning before he got his first MLB at bat. With people like Clint Frazier and Aaron Judge ahead of him, the Yanks deemed him expendable. As I recently wrote, a pecking order. You may have a lot of talent, but if you are blocked by someone better….

Jorge Mateo. 22. Once a top Yankees prospect at SS, he was passed on the pecking order by Gleyber Torres. Not only that, the Yanks have Didi and Castro at SS and 2B right now. The Yanks moved him to CF, and apparently he has been picking it up well, and has been playing well at AA, but the Yanks apparently like 19 year old Estevan Florial (compared to Adam Jones (5x all star, 4x Gold Glove) as far as ability) better. Florial is currently at Low A Charleston. As I mentioned, ….. pecking order. Not only that, who knows what happens with the free agent market in a few years. Could the CF of the future be Bryce Harper or Mike Trout?

Gray fits the now. He is just 27. Under team control for this year and the next two. Team him with the 23 year old Severino and you have a nice young 1-2 punch.

Now let’s say Tanaka regains his old form in 2018. He’d be 29.

CC is 37, and I’m not looking at him right now, nor Garcia who is a two-month rental, but Jordan Montgomery is just 24. And the Yanks still have Chance Adams, Domingo Acevedo and Justus Sheffield in the wings.

A young and hopefully good rotation. And with a bullpen featuring Chapman, Betances, Robertson, Kahnle, Green, Warren…. I am excited.

Severino and Montgomery are young, haven’t gone too many innings in a season and could be hitting a “wall” soon. The additions of Garcia and Gray guard against that.

Montgomery could be bullpen bound.

Cashman also traded prospect Yefri Ramirez to the Orioles for $$$ to be used against international signings.

So the Yanks get an ace. Granted they gave up three prospects. It wasn’t Torres, Frazier, Sheffield, Acevedo or Adams.

Two of those prospects are on the DL with major injuries and won’t be ready until 2018.

The Yanks made a major deal to try and get more power, resolve the first base situation for now, and straighten out the bullpen. I am going to try to analyze the deal, both good and bad and also what it may mean short AND long term.

In the deal, the Yanks get 1b/3b Todd Frazier, and relief pitchers David Robertson and Tommy Kahnle from the White Sox. They gave up Tyler Clippard and three prospects.

Getting:

Frazier: 31, a 2x All Star. When he was a little kid, he and his Little League teammates lined up next to a Yankee at a Yankee game. Frazier got to line up next to Derek Jeter for the National Anthem. Now he is a Yankee. He is a free agent after this season. He is making $12 MM now. So a trial run to see if the Yanks want to keep him for 2018, and he wouldn’t interfere with Greg Bird for 2018 at 1B. Frazier is primarily a 3B, who has played 94 games at 1B in his career. We’ll see who plays 3B and who plays 1B between Headley and Frazier. Frazier has a little more experience there than Headley.

But… asssuming Bird ever becomes healthy, could the Yanks sign Frazier once he hits free agency, move him back to 3B in 2018, and then move Chase Headley? Headley has just 4 HR this year at what is supposed to be a power position in 3B. Headley is still signed for 2018, at $13MM. The Yanks would most likely have to eat a lot of Headley’s contract to get rid of him.

Pros? What I mentioned above. A corner IF of a healthy Bird at 1B and Frazier at 3B is an upgrade for 2018 if the Yanks can sign Frazier this offseason. The man has power. In his last three full seasons, 2014-2016, he hit 29, 35 and 40 HR. He has 16 HR so far this season. His 162 g. average is .247-30-87, OPS+ 111. If Frazier becomes your long term solution then, Headley and 3B prospect Miguel Andujar could be used as trade chips to upgrade elsewhere.

Cons? He is hitting just .207 this year. He hit .255 in 2015, .225 last season and is at .207 now. So that is a downward trend. We’ve seen another infielder with a lot of power, low batting average recently (Chris Carter). We know how that one worked out. Hopefully he ups the BA and keeps the power. Another thing is that he is a righty power hitter, as opposed to a lefty like Duda or Alonso, both who were rumored to be on the Yanks’ radar. Here is where losing Bird really hurt this year. Consider the righty power (Judge, Sanchez, Holliday, Todd Frazier (what was supposed to be in Carter), Clint Frazier vs. the lefty bats (Gardner, Ellsbury, Gregorius)…. you have switch hitters in Hicks who did well before his DL stint and Headley, and Headley hasn’t given power (4 HR). Neither has Ellsbury (4 HR). Gardner, though surprising, isn’t known for his power. There is an imbalance in the power between righty and lefty bats which the Bird injury really highlights. Getting the righty bat in Frazier didn’t solve that imbalance. You’d think with all that righty power that this was Boston and Fenway rather than the Yanks and Yankee Stadium. It’s the Yankees. With that short right field porch and Yankee history, the Yanks need a lefty power bat (think Ruth, Gehrig, Giambi Nettles, Jackson, Tino, O’Neill, Maris, the switch-hitters in Mantle, White, Tresh, Posada, Teixeira). Still, Frazier at 1B is an upgrade over a Choi/Cooper platoon.

Robertson: 32, RHP, signed through 2018. $12MM this year, $13MM next year. The most positive aspect of this deal, I believe. He has already been a Yankee, been a 1x All-Star, already been their closer. He replaces the beleaguered Tyler Clippard, who after a good two months this year, appeared to just lose it completely. That alone is good. Robertson’s prior NY experience should serve him well. Robertson has been doing well this year, 4-2, 2.70, 13 saves. I see just pros here, no cons. Let’s hope I am right. 162 g. average 5-4, 2.95, ERA+ 141, 16 saves. Between him, Betances and Chapman, should help shorten the game, and Green (see below) and Warren have been great and can move into the sixth. Definite upgrade here.

Kahnle: Was in the Yanks system years ago, getting up to AA. 27, RHP. 1-3, 2.50 this year. 162 g. average 1-3, 3.70, ERA+ 117. I don’t know where he slots in or how he plays against say a Holder, Heller, Gallegos, etc.

I don’t think the Yanks are done making moves. I really think they need a move for a starting pitcher (Sonny Gray?). To me, replacing Pineda with Mitchell or Cessa won’t get it done.Could the Yanks stretch out Chad Green and make him a starter (thus Kahnle replaces Green in the bullpen) or is another trade (like for Gray, Gerrit Cole) coming? I really think the Yanks need to get that starter and upgrade the rotation.

Now to who the Yanks gave up:

Clippard. A good two months followed by an awful month. 4.95 ERA. 1-5. Yanks lost confidence in him, justifiably so. A 13.06 ERA in his last twelve appearances, since June 12. A change here had to be made.

Ian Clarkin: 22, LHP, hasn’t made it to AA yet. 4-4. 2.61 at Tampa. 14-18 in his minor league career. Here is where depth of prospects helped make the deal. The Yanks have rookie lefty Jordan Montgomery in the rotation now. Justus Sheffield is at AA. Caleb Smith just made his MLB debut the other night. Dan Camarena is another lefty. Could Clarkin be better than say, Camarena? Yeah, maybe, but you do have to give to get.

Tito Polo: 23 soon. Righty hitting OF. Between High A/AA this year, .298-5-36, 25 SB. Yanks got him from the Pirates in the Nova deal last year. Seems like a nice prospect, just made it to AA, but with outfielders in front of him (esp. righty hitters Clint Frazier, Judge…)

Blake Rutherford: 20, Lefty hitting OF. 1st round pick last year (2016). .281-2-30 this year at Low A Charleston. The one guy that the White Sox probably wanted most. Losing him hurts but you have to give to get. A few years away, obviously. The Yanks do have guys like Billy McKinney, Jake Cave, Mason Williams, and the injured Dustin Fowler yet as lefty hitting outfielders, and still of course have Gardner and Ellsbury.

We’ll see about Todd Frazier. Power nice, needs to up that batting average, still a 1B upgrade. To me, getting D-Rob (aka Houdini) back is the big plus in this deal.

I think I read where Jacoby Ellsbury was cleared to resume BP on Wednesday. If so, and all went ok, he should be starting rehab games soon. It does look like he would be one expensive fourth OF, though. It appears Aaron Hicks has taken his job.

Yankees’ top prospect, INF Gleyber Torres, needs TJ surgery and is done for the year. He injured his non-throwing elbow sliding into home the other day and hyperextended the elbow, injuring ligaments as well.

The Yanks were possibly grooming Torres to take over at 3B for Chase Headley later this year. They also now have promoted 3B Miguel Andujar to AAA. Andujar is an option for the future at 3B, also the Yanks may look at the trade deadline for a 3B. They aren’t happy with Headley’s performance so far.

Besides 3B, the Yanks may also look to upgrade at starting pitching and 1B. With CC out until early August and Tanaka struggling, an upgrade in the rotation, via Chance Adams being called up,Fo or a trade, looks imminent.

Also, 1B has been a problem with Greg Bird hurt and shut down, and the disappointing performance of Chris Carter. Here, the Yanks could look at a promotion (Tyler Austin, Mike Ford, Ji-Man Choi) or look to trade.

These are three positions that bear watching over the next month. How do the Yanks upgrade here? Is there a big deal brewing?